The biggest worry for poll managers of the BJP in Uttarakhand is not the ruling Congress. Rather, it’s the party’s own rebel leader — Sadhvi Uma Bharati and her Bharatiya Janshakti Party. And to add to their worries, Bharati yesterday sought the help of the RSS to defeat the BJP in the polls. “RSS is like God to me,” she said here on Wednesday.

In a letter addressed to Ram Lal, organising secretary of the BJP, who recently came to BJP from the RSS, Uma called the BJP ‘Ravana’ and sought the help of the Sangh. She claimed that she was following their true ideology and that she should be supported.

Uma Bharati has fielded 44 candidates from a total of 70 Assembly seats in the state and has launched a vigorous campaign. She has already visited the Garhwal region. She is familiar to the region as she had spent some time here when she was a BJP minister. In fact, she was a frequent visitor to Uttarakhand temples and considered the state as her second home.

With the help of another BJP rebel — Chandra Raj Singhvi — a former minister of Rajasthan, Uma managed to form her own party unit in the state within a short span of time. “We will play an important role in preventing the BJP from coming to power in the state,” said Singhvi.

Most of Uma’s candidates as well as party cadres are from the BJP and other Hindu organisations. Annoyed by the rebellion, the BJP has expelled 23 of its leaders for anti-party activities in the past two days. Some of them are also fighting elections as Uma’s candidates.

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